So Long 2018...

What a year! It's been a while since I updated the blog, so I thought I'd update it and this can serve as our Christmas card/letter.  It's been a very busy year and I'm sorry to see it end, but I can't wait to see what 2019 has in store for us!

The year started with Alison and Luke's wedding...it was amazing.  We are so thankful that so many of our friends and family made it to Houston to celebrate Big Al and Luke.  We could not have asked for anything more.  From the rehearsal dinner to their honeymoon in Mexico, it all exceeded our expectations.  Alison continues to teach at Crosby High School where she is team leader of 9th grade English and UIL coordinator.  Her job is super stressful, but I think she is very good at it.  Luke works for the same company as John only at the Kingwood Tech Center.  We just love him.  We are so proud of them. They recently added another puppy, Bo, to their little family.  He is a mini Aussie with lots of energy.  Tucker wasn't thrilled, but he is warming up to him.

Madeline graduated from college in April and turned 21 in July, so we (the Watkins clan plus Kirk, Sarah and her boyfriend, Ian) all met in Las Vegas for a long weekend to celebrate. It was nice having everyone together, but logistically challenging.  We saw shows, relaxed poolside in the lazy river, and saw the Grand Canyon.  Several bucket list items checked.

August was a bit stressful as John had to get back to Saudi, so I was the lucky parent that got to fly to Pittsburgh and pack Madeline up and drive her and her belongings to NYC.  What a fun and slightly exhausting trip. Fortunately, I am good at the game Tetris, and got all her worldly possessions in the back of our rented Subaru SUV.  After a very very stressful week of driving in NYC (I made the mistake of getting the hotel in Times Square) we finally moved her into her first sublet in Washington Heights.  She has since moved to her long term rental in Harlem and loves it.  She works at a great restaurant on the Upper West Side, is auditioning a lot, and just living the life!  She was in a musical in October, an O'Douls commercial in November, and did a shoot to be a super hero in an upcoming comic book.  I spent an amazingly fun week with her in November as a stop over on my way to Texas from Saudi. Alison and Luke spent a long weekend with her in NYC the second weekend of December, and Jane and Kirk have a trip planned to visit her the second week of January.  We all love NYC especially during Christmas, so she gets to see us all often. Lol.

December brought us another (and final) graduation.  Janie finished up her Bachelor of Science degree in Interdisciplinary Studies at Texas A&M University.   She may have taken the scenic route, but she is finished. We could not be prouder of her!  She worked so hard and finished with a 3.0 GPA overall.  We had her graduation party the weekend before Christmas where her boyfriend, Kirk, proposed to her.  It was so sweet as both kirk and Janie's family and friends were there. It was an eventful weekend.  We are excited for them. Kirk got a new job in August and is just doing so well.  We are so so proud of them both.  Janie got a job at an elementary school in Bryan, so she will start teaching 2nd grade in January!

Soooo it looks as though we will be having another wedding at the end of 2019...this time in New Orleans.  She picked out the venue when we were in New Orleans for the Braud family Christmas.  They wanted a small destination wedding and this was a great choice for them.

John and I are still in Saudi Arabia and will be for the foreseeable future.  We are grateful for the job, for the travel opportunities it affords us, and the amazing extended family we have there.  I started tutoring two young Saudi girls 5 days a week this fall and that brought with it a new challenge along with a wonderful experience.  I love them and I love the family.  It comes with some cultural and language challenges, but I have decided that the reward far outweighs the challenge.  As the CPChem project winds down it is getting harder and harder to see friends move on, but again, we are so thankful for the job.

As the year comes to a close and we reflect back on what amazing blessings, opportunities, and challenges 2018 brought and we are just completely humbled and grateful.  John and I are headed back to Saudi mid-January after a short vacation in Europe to celebrate my upcoming 50th Birthday.  My girls planned a lovely surprise 50th right before Christmas and I was truly surprised. I am thankful for those that took time out of what is already a very busy time of year to come and help me celebrate. Luke's parents were awesome for cooking and helping secure a location.  As much as I enjoyed spending time with my friends, I am so looking forward to ten days of trains and castles and food and drink and churches and whatever we can find walking the streets of Budapest, Vienna, and Prague.

We will hopefully see more of you when we come back for a friend's wedding and Mardi Gras at the end of February/beginning of March!

GIRLS TRIP TO PRAGUE!

March 2017, Madeline and I met in Prague, Czech Republic for her spring break.  John was supposed to go with us, but he had to cancel because of work.  Fortunately, Madeline and I did NOT have to cancel.  It was the most amazing trip.  The weather was better than I could have asked for because I LOVE cold weather.  It was chilly, but not miserable.  Many days we actually saw the sun.  Because John wasn't with us, we got to Uber around the country instead of walking and taking public transportation.  Don't get me wrong, we did PLENTY of walking, but when it was difficult to find we called Uber.  John really enjoys meandering and mastering the public transportation system in every country we visit, but I do NOT.

Our hotel couldn't have been in a better location.  It was within walking distance to the Old Town Square, the malls, and many other attractions. 

We explored Prague Castle (after not being able to find it the first try, we uber'd the next day and found it quite easily...I mean, it's a huge castle and YET we couldn't find it), Charles Bridge, John Lennon Wall, the Astronomical Clock, Cesky Krumlov, Kutna Hora (the Bone Church), Terezin Concentration Camp, the Ruckl Crystal Factory, and the Pilsner Urquell Factory.  We also

saw the AMAZING Salvador Dali exhibit and loved it.  Our favorite tour was the Prague Foodie Tour.  It was amazing.  While Madeline didn't like the food because it wasn't bar food, she LOVED the tour.  She DID eat steak tartare and loved it, but almost vomited eating beetroot puree....go figure.  Anyway, the foodie tour was given by a native that had been an exchange student in Houston around the time of the fall of Communism in Prague.  He had the most interesting stories and history lessons.  It was an amazing tour that I recommend to EVERYONE that visits Prague.  We also had an amazing driver the ENTIRE week that took us to all the far away places.  He was amazing.  We got his name from a friend who had used him previously and we were not disappointed.  You can find him on Trip Advisor under Mike Chauffer.  So very reasonable and worth every penny.

A week wasn't long enough with my girl, but I'll take it any day.  She is the perfect travel companion and we enjoyed eating, drinking, and exploring all that Prague had to offer.

2018...Big Year for the Watkins Family

Wow...it has been three years since I last updated the blog.  It has been a big year for the Watkins Fam.  So far, we have had a wedding, a college graduation, and we have another college graduation in December.  I guess you can say we sort of see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Alison got married March 10th.  It was a very fun, happy, drama-free wedding.  Many of my friends  from Saudi Arabia came to help celebrate and I couldn't have been more excited.  I was so thankful for my Saudi Sistas that showed up early in the week to help me get ready.  They were invaluable as were my two sisters!  It was an amazing week of reunions!

Alison and Luke said it was exactly what they wanted for their wedding and that makes me happy.  It seemed to have gone off without a hitch (or at least any fatal ones anyhow). I loved catching up as much as I could with everyone.  It was such a whirlwind that I can barely remember it all.  Now I know why some cultures make their wedding last DAYS.  My advice to anyone getting ready to have a wedding....take it all in.  Stop and enjoy.  Hire someone else to put out fires so that you can enjoy yourself.  We had an AMAZING "day of" coordinator provided by the venue, but there were still some issues that she couldn't solve. 

I was missing two of my siblings and my dad.  If they been there that would have made it all the more perfect.  So many friends and family drove so far to help us celebrate and for that, we are so grateful!

After the wedding, Luke and Alison spent a week in Cancun while John and I spent our last week in the United States babysitting their dog, Tucker.  Poor Tucker missed his parents.  The night before we left we spent the night at Alison and Luke's house with Janie and her dog.  In the middle of the night Janie woke up to find Tucker lying on the bathroom floor crying.  It was so sad.

In April, Madeline graduated from college, so John and I flew from Saudi to Pittsburgh to be there to see her walk across the stage.  It was freezing in Pittsburgh and we were totally unprepared for that weather.  We flew in and got spend 5 glorious days with Madeline...and her besties.  It was amazing and she is so much fun to be around.  We could not be prouder of her.  She finished school in three years without having one hour of college credit when she started.  She worked so hard, trained so hard, and played so hard in her three years.  In keeping with Madeline's personality, she had no idea that she graduated with honors.  I asked her several times and she said that she was not graduating with honors...

Notice the closed captioning in the picture....yeahhhh.  She graduated cum laude.  No chords.  No fanfare.  She just gave us a shoulder shrug.  God love that girl.

Madeline will be working in Pittsburgh this summer and is planning to move to New York City in September to continue her acting career.

So next up is Janie.  She totally rocked Texas A&M this semester!  She got a 3.6 this semester!!  We are so proud of her.  She has student teaching this fall semester and then she graduates in December! Like I said before...Big year for the Watkins Family!

 I seriously am so in love with these three girls.  They are so amazing and I miss being with them every day. I will be leaving for Texas at the end of May and will be in the States until August.  I am going to try and visit with as many people as I possibly can this summer.

John and I will be living in Saudi Arabia for the foreseeable future.  Our tentative repatriation date is June 2022, but one never knows...